The "progressive" Tory mask hasn't just slipped; it's dropped to the floor and smashed. Behind it, the true face of Cameron's party is coming sharply into focus. It's a face distorted with hatred, religious fervour and old-fashioned prejudice.

Last weekend The Observer revealed that Philippa Stroud, the head of a thinktank set up by former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith (the Centre for Social Justice), and the Conservative candidate for Sutton and Cheam, has been trying to drive demons out of lesbians, gay men and transsexuals.

"She wanted me to know all my thinking was wrong, I was wrong and the so-called demons inside me were wrong," said "Abi", one of her victims, according to the Observer. "The session ended with her and others praying over me, calling out the demons. She really believed things like homosexuality, transsexualism and addiction could be fixed just by prayer."

When Cameron was asked on the BBC Asian Network whether he thought that like Stroud he believed homosexuality could be cured, he replied: "I don't believe that, and she [Stroud]'s actually put out a very clear statement to say she was completely misreported; she believes in gay equality." This is an unequivocal misrepresentation of Stroud's statement, which simply says she doesn't believe homosexuality is an illness.

But then the reaction to the story raises many sinister questions.

Question one: Why hasn't Cameron asked for Stroud to be deselected and distanced himself from her thinktank?

Last week, the Tory leader said that he decided to suspend Philip Lardner, the Conservative candidate for North Ayrshire and Arra, "within minutes" for writing on his website that he thought homosexuality was "not normal". Lardner also opined that "most people" consider homosexuality to be "somewhere between unfortunate and simply wrong". A hate-soaked, erroneous diatribe, but compared to Stroud he looks like Peter Tatchell. Why the discrepancy? How can abusing young people with extremist religious practices be less incriminating than words?

It's not just me asking. A Facebook group, a mere three days old, called "If Cameron cares an ounce about LGBT people, he'll sack Philippa Stroud" already has over 2,600 members. Cameron: we, the non-religious, liberal majority deserve an answer and Stroud, the fundamentalist exorcist deserves to be ex-communicated from your party.

But wait a minute, on closer inspection there appears to be precedent here. When Chris Grayling said that he sympathised with Christian B&B owners who don't want gay people in their establishments, he was not sacked, suspended or de-selected. And last December when Boris Johnson attended a carol service of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, which admits to performing exorcisms on gay people, his knuckles were not rapped.

What is it that unites the stories about Stroud, Grayling and Johnson? In all three cases religion "justified" the homophobia. Cameron might pretend to love gay people. But it seems he loves Christians more.

Question two: Why won't Stroud answer the allegations?

Philippa Stroud "declined to comment" directly on the Observer's story. Instead she issued a statement saying: "I make no apology for being a committed Christian. However it is categorically untrue that I believe homosexuality to be an illness and I am deeply offended that the Observer has suggested otherwise."

When Pink News, Europe's largest gay news website, asked her to comment on the Observer's actual allegation, which was that Stroud believes gay people have demons inside them, her spokesman replied: "We will not be adding to or subtracting to [sic] the statement."

Why not? Does Stroud think her statement is sufficient explanation of her position? Thousand of gay and transgender people in her constituency deserve a full and proper explanation, before 6 May. "Abi", the brave woman who spoke out deserves an answer too.

Question three: Why hasn't the press picked up on the story?

As soon as I read the Observer piece, I turned on the BBC News channel. There was no mention of the story. I switched to CNN. Nothing. I did a Google news search of the story. No newspaper had reported on the scandal. Only the Independent followed it up the next day. In these heightened last days before the election, every single gaffe is poured over by the press. But this isn't a "bigot-gate" style mishap. This is abuse.

The sad reality is that the press frequently deems homophobia a fringe issue. But given that by any rigorous application of logic, it is just as vile as racism, the reaction to this story by Cameron and the press isn't just illogical; it's professionally negligent.